


Salt and Cigarettes

by JustAnotherShadow503



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, M/M, Not A Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27887425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherShadow503/pseuds/JustAnotherShadow503
Summary: Fun Ghoul has a difficult realization after a close call with some Dracs and struggles to deal with it. Our favorite redhead comes to make it worse (or better?).Set in the Danger Days-verse, shortly before The Girl comes into the picture.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Fun Ghoul/Party Poison (Danger Days)
Kudos: 21





	Salt and Cigarettes

Fun Ghoul knows he's fucked when a close call during a fight with some Dracs nearly costs Party Poison his life, and all Ghoul can think is, 'No, no, please, no!'

Luckily, Poison has been at this for longer than he has, and he side-steps at the last second and dusts the Drac with a laugh. It's not a happy sound, Ghoul isn't sure he's ever heard Poison laugh with anything but bitterness or disdain, but this laugh is the closest to happiness Ghoul's ever heard from the man. It's sharp, almost manic. Hysterical, maybe, but Poison doesn't panic in these kinds of situations. Ghoul doesn't have the words to describe it, but it gives Ghoul a look at what kind of man Poison was before BL/ind took over.

The ride back to the gas station, their primary hideout for now, is silent. Normally, Ghoul fills the air with fast words and exclamations, but he's not into it today. He can see the looks Jet Star and Kobra Kid throw him the longer the silence stretches, but honestly? Ghoul deserves some time to sit and stew over his goddamned feelings.

As soon as the Trans Am slows, not even waiting for it to come to a stop, Ghoul rolls out of the shattered back window, for once thankful for his small size, and takes off walking. He doesn't know where he's going, but he needs some time to process, and he won't get that in the close quarters they live in.

Ghoul knows it's dangerous, and stupid, to go off on his own. Dracs could be anywhere, and he could bleed out in this desert without anyone ever knowing, or he could be dragged back to Battery City, drugged up and brainwashed into being a model citizen, one of the very things they kill, but none of that matters right now.

What matters is that Fun Ghoul is in love with Party Poison, and it's a devastating realization.

If it was ten years ago, fine. Ghoul wouldn't worry about anything other than homophobia, maybe a hate crime or an accident. Out here? In the Zones? In 2019? Ghoul has so much more to worry about. They could get killed at any moment, they could lose themselves to BL/ind if they get captured, they could fucking get the flu and die out here. Life as a Killjoy isn't glamorous, isn't easy, and when Ghoul signed up for this life, he understood that, at least superficially. He never accounted for falling in love.

Besides, Poison is… Well, Poison doesn't love him back. He cares about Ghoul, he can tell that much, but Poison doesn't love him. Poison cares about all of them, they're a family, and he'd mourn any and all of their losses, but Ghoul isn't special.

Ghoul pushes his sunglasses down from where they sit atop his head when he feels his eyes start stinging, angry with himself. He reaches in his jacket pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one up and not flinching as he burns his calloused and scarred fingers with the flame from the lighter in his attempt to shield it from the wind. Ghoul doesn't care that cigarettes are a rare commodity. He needs the burn of nicotine in his lungs right now.

Ghoul sits on a large rock on the side of the road they just drove down, watching the sun set, taking long, deep, lung-burning drags to fight off the tears. Despite his efforts, Ghoul feels hot tracks slip down his cheeks, and he lets them, exhausted. He's had a long day, having spent it scavenging with the rest of the guys before they were ambushed by Dracs. Ghoul kind of wishes today was over.

When the cherry falls off of his cigarette, his lips and fingers burning, Ghoul drops the burning filter carelessly to the ground and heaves himself up. It's time to go home. Ghoul turns, only to come face to face with Poison.

Ghoul freezes. His cheeks are still damp with tears, and he knows they've left tracks on his dirty face if the look in Poison's eyes is any indication. Ghoul's grateful for his sunglasses.

"Ghoul…?"

Ghoul blinks rapidly, trying to force back the tears that want to keep spilling. Ghoul turns his face away, clearing his throat.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have left like that. I know it could have put you guys in a bad spot if I was caught," Ghoul mutters, wincing when his voice is hoarse from crying.

"Ghoul, are you okay?" Poison asks, an odd note in his voice that has Ghoul looking back up.

As ever, Poison's face is blank, but his eyes tell Ghoul that he's concerned.

"I'm fine," Ghoul replies, going to walk around Poison. "We should-"

"Oh, no. We're talking about this, Ghoul. Sit your ass down," Poison interrupts, catching Ghoul's arm.

"Fuck that!" Ghoul snaps, trying to wrench his arm out of Poison's hold. His grip turns bruising.

"It wasn't a request, Ghoul," Poison sneers, and Destroya, why does he love this man?

"Fuck you! You don't get to do that!" Ghoul snarls.

"Do what, Ghoul?" Poison asks, his tone biting.

"You don't get to act like you care, not now! Not when I almost-" Ghoul chokes himself off, angry.

"When you almost…?" Poison asks, his voice softer.

"I almost lost you, Poison," Ghoul spits out. "You almost died, and that would have destroyed me."

Poison goes completely still at that. Ghoul watches as his eyes widen and his lips part. It's the first reaction other than anger or relief that he's seen from the man.

Ghoul tears his arm out of Poison's loosened grip and starts walking back to the gas station, his fingers itching for another cigarette, but those really are a rare resource out here, and they can't be wasted so needlessly. Ghoul is debating saying 'fuck it' and smoking one anyway when a soft, choked voice stops him in his tracks.

"Frankie…"

It's a whisper, barely caught by Ghoul's ears, but Ghoul would know that voice saying his name anywhere. He hasn't been called that name in a long, long time. Hasn't heard that name from those lips in almost as long.

"Frank is dead, Poison," Ghoul says, his fists clenching at his sides as his vision blurs. Ghoul tilts his head back, closing his eyes and feeling his tears run down his neck. "Gerard has been dead for longer than Frank has. Those people don't exist anymore, Poison. You know it's too dangerous for them to exist out here."

Ghoul startles at the hands on his face, pushing his sunglasses up to sit on top of his head and rubbing the tears from his cheeks. The person staring at him, looking wrecked, isn't Poison. No, the man staring at him is a man Ghoul thought dead for almost a decade. It's weird, seeing Gerard look at him with Poison's looks. Gerard was all long black hair and kohl-lined eyes, tight black jeans and black leather jackets, while Poison is an explosion of color, from his fiery red hair to his blue and yellow leather jacket. Gerard and Poison might as well be two different people.

"Frankie, I'm sorry. I know this isn't the life you wanted, the life you-"

"Gerard, stop," Frank says firmly. "I chose this. I chose to follow you, to leave Battery City and find you. I knew what I was getting into. I just- I didn't think I'd fall in love with you, and that's hard for me to process."

Gerard was always the weepy one between them, and they both became harder when they left Battery City, but their edges are softened in this moment, and Frank's emotions, even when he was Fun Ghoul, are a mess. Before they were Party Poison and Fun Ghoul, when they were just Gerard and Frank, things were simpler, and life out in the Zones hasn't been kind to them. Frank followed his best friend two years after he left, abandoning everything for him, and even almost ten years later, Frank doesn't regret that decision.

"I love you, Frankie. I always have. I'm sorry we can't have a normal life together," Gerard says, breathing harshly through his nose as he rests his forehead against Frank's.

When their lips meet, it tastes like salt and cigarettes.

~

Two months later, when Party Poison is shot in the head by Korse, Fun Ghoul rushes Jet Star and The Girl out of the building, locking it behind them, and turns, shooting wildly and welcoming his death.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, friends. It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but I've been writing almost constantly since the last post. This is my first story in this fandom in, like, 10 years, and I wrote it almost a year ago. I figure this would be a good one to ease myself back into the idea of sharing what I write again.
> 
> Side note: there is a longer, more involved, sort-of prequel nearly done. I get into more world-building stuff, which I kind of hinted at in this one. Set in the same universe with the same general concept, but things don't quite go down this road. AU of an AU, if you will. Let me know of you want to see it, friends.
> 
> If you have anything you want to say, leave a comment! Thank you for taking the time to read. :)


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